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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

I have been missing from the internet for a bit. My online time was short and intermittent. Why? Well, we just finished a trip to visit family. The truck clocked a little over 3,300 miles. I don't want to get in the truck for a while.

Our first stop was Richmond for a 90th birthday celebration....during Hurricane Irene. Great to see members of the extended family we hadn't seen for a number of years.

Found this sign along the trip!

The day after the birthday celebration there was a baby shower for niece and nephew's soon to be born baby girl.

Isn't this the cutest?

All sorts of goodies for the new baby...and a few fun things for big brother.

After the shower we headed to Seaford to check on my mom. She lives next door to my old house....in low Seaford. I thank Les, Racquel and David and others keeping me posted on Hampton Roads conditions. The Weather Channel and other national news outlets seemed to ignore any land mass between the Outer Banks and New York City. I knew before we got there that Seaford had minimal flooding, a lot less than Isabel. Hooray! We got up Monday morning and cleaned up Mom's yard ....making runs to the dump to join the rest of the residents of York County getting rid of the storm debris.

No power for the time we were there. The first shower, after all the cleanup was not bad.....the shower the next morning before we headed out was a bit chilly. Power finally came back on for Mom a few days later.

From Seaford we headed out to Kansas to visit my sister and her husband. Two days to get out there.

Love seeing the landscape as we drove. Lots of beautiful vistas!

One of the few sunrises I have seen since Charlie retired. Ok, it is pretty....just a tad early.

While in Kansas my sister and I went to a place that is named 'Top of the World'. Big views and lots of wildflowers and LOTS of wind! This is my sister....say hi!

We had a good time checking out the flowers in the fields around us.

Liatris sp.

Ironweed, Vernonia fasciculata

And views that go on forever---

Rustic beauty.

Great varieties of blooms.

Kansas...grasses blowing in the wind with a sunflower -- perfect!

I love this one....one of those postcard pictures!

Another little bloom. Blue Vervain, Verbena hastata

After the Top of the World, we went to Tuttle Creek Dam Lake. Very pretty.

Sumac

Snow on the Mountain, Euphorbia marginata

Thistle and Sunflowers

Beautiful mix of wildflowers

The night before we left we had one of those picture perfect dinners. Recipes for this meal are on my sister's blog. Bags by KZK Venture on over there...good eats!!

Driving through Kansas we saw lots of open fields....

We headed to OKC to visit Charlie's sister and family. There was a baby naming ceremony for another nephew's baby boy. Saturday was filled with football, then a ride into downtown OKC. The OKC Federal Building Memorial Sight is quite moving. If you have not visited it, certainly worth a stop.

Each chair has the name of one of the victims of the bombing.

There is a beautiful reflecting pool in the middle.

The sunlight shining through the chairs is just beautiful.

Quite a somber place.

Time to head home, the dogs had been in the boarding facility long enough.

We headed home in time to drive through Tropical Lee.

Storm to the left of us....yikes!

Visibility was limited.

Downtown Atlanta....through the raindrops

Close to home, Ware Shoals, big dark clouds

Heading this direction doesn't look good!

A few miles before we got off the highway the rain came down so hard and fast it was like someone dumped a bucket of white paint on the windshield. So glad to be home. This is just a brief overview of all our activities during the last week or so. Picked up the dogs today and gave them a bath....boy did they need it.

The gardens need tending, the voles and the heat have taken their toll on my poor plants.

17 comments:

What an oddessy. I am glad you made it home without incident, particularly driving through Lee. On our trip to Colorado we were warned about Kansas, but I really thought that the eastern half of the state was quite beautiful. I wish my travelling companions would have allowed me to explore. BTW, I can see the resemblance between you and your sister.

Welcome back~! Seems like you just left. That's quite a trip too. Whenever I hear OKC I always think of that terrible day when the Murrah building was blown up-by an American of all things. So sad. The memorial looks very serene as it should be.

Glad you're back home, safe and sound! We loved seeing you all. You should try a REALLY windy day at the Top of the World. LOL. What a beautiful place! And the dam/lake, too.And Kansas is BEAUTIFUL! (No comment on the weather, though...)KZK

Wow, did you ever cover a lot of ground, both literally, and via prose and pix here! Looks like a whirlwind trip in every sense of the word, and I loved joining you via this post. The images are wonderful. Glad things weren't too bad with your mom's place. Media coverage was lacking for conditions in places other than NYC. That was all they had info about when I was traveling. Glad you're back, safe and sound!

Wow, Janet, you put on more miles than I did coming home from Portland! I love all the photos of the wildflowers in Kansas. For me, seeing mountainous vistas out west or the hills of the east are spectacular, but there's something so comforting about the flat plains of the Midwest. I'm always happy to see the first cornfields when I'm coming home from far away.

I don't think I've ever seen a picture of the Oklahoma City memorial before; this has to be such a moving sight.

Glad that your Mother is safe and suffered little damage from Irene. I did see some of your posts on Facebook, so I knew you were headed there to help out. I agree that most of the national news seemed to focus on New York City; I kept wondering how people in smaller towns were doing. Hope Lee didn't create too much havoc for you. Here in Illinois we're looking forward to getting a few late rainshowers courtesy of Lee.

You sure covered a lot of ground Janet. I admire you for so willingly hopping in the car and making a big trip ~ you did another one earlier this year didn't you?? Glad you and your loved ones escaped severe damage from the hurricanes ~ they are always scary to me. I'm sure your dogs were thrilled to see you. Enjoy being home and the rest of summer.ps I'm with you on not seeing many sunrises! WAY too early in the day...

What an epic journey! Not surprised to hear that you don't want to sit in the van for a while. Love the hurricane sign. Sounds as if you had a great combination of catching up with family and enjoying the huge variety of landscape in the US. Glad your Mum survived Irene.

Hi Janet, Welcome back! Actually, I stopped in yesterday, but got interrupted before I had a chance to comment. So I am back today to say hi. Over 3000 miles on your trip- wow! I am sure it was wonderful to catch up with family. I am glad your Mom got through Irene and I am sure it was a great help to her that you were there to do some of the cleanup. The sights and storms certainly made the trip memorable. I love the shots of the Memorial with the chairs. What a remarkable tribute!

Hi folks, what wonderful comments. Les, it was an odyssey--or odd-essy. ;-) Kansas has some interesting topography.. Sister is on the edge of the Flint Hill that rise up to the plains. Glad you could see the resemblance!

Ann, Glad to be home!

Tina, feels like we were gone for a long time! The memorial was very serene and well worth the visit.

KZK, We loved seeing you guys as well. Kansas has some very pretty sights, but as you said...the weather--OY!

Marguerite, the storms were very trying at times. We are sure happy to be home.

Aerie-el, We did cover a lot of ground.....to include two hurricane/tropical storms. Mom's place was an easy clean-up.

Rose, hahah -- is that possible? I find all areas of the country to be lovely...what a vast country we live in. If you are ever heading west again, swing through OKC, the memorial is wonderful. We are still hoping for some rain....Lee totally a let down as far as rainfall.

Tatyana, Glad you liked the grass and sunflower pic, I was happy with it.

Rosey, it was a LOT of miles! Glad I was able to share the OKC memorial with you. You aren't TOO far from there, you could make a day trip.

Lola, Happy to share some new places with you!

Kathleen, The only down side of a trip like this is worrying about the dogs being boarded. One dog is 17 1/2 years old. We did have a trip in March to Missouri and a trip in May to New York. Think we are staying put for a while.

Janet, I thought the hurricane sign was funny...then I added a little more. We did have a nice time getting to see lots of family.

Casa, I do know about the amsonia. Pretty neat.

Jennifer, glad you came back to say hi. We were able to do clean up for my mom pretty quickly....her yard is flat. Now that ours is so sloped, any yard work on flat ground is easy. Yes, the OKC memorial is a wonderful tribute.

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